New York Jets training camp is now open in Florham Park, New Jersey, and the team is getting ready for the new campaign. There is a lot of optimism around Gang Green with Aaron Rodgers under center and plenty of new faces on the Jets roster. However, the one player who could make or break the Jets’ 2023 NFL season is second-year cornerback Sauce Gardner.

Sauce Gardner is the one surprising player who could make or break the Jets’ 2023 NFL season

The fact that Sauce Gardner is important to the Jets' 2023 NFL season isn’t a surprise. The former Cincinnati Bearcats corner was the No. 4 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft and had an excellent rookie year.

Last season, Gardner had 75 tackles, three tackles for a loss, two interceptions, and he led the league with 20 passes defended. That means opposing QBs went after the rookie CB and the rookie stood up to the pressure.

As a reward for his poise under fire, Gardner took home a host of hardware at the end of last season. He made the Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro. And he also won the Associated Press (AP) Defensive Rookie of the Year Award, the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA) Defensive and overall Rookie of the Year Awards, and the Sporting News Rookie of the Year. Gardner even came in eighth for NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

With apologies to Quinnen Williams, CJ Mosley, and the rest of the Jets defense, Gardner is the best player on the unit, and at just 22 years old (he’ll be 23 on August 31), he has the most upside to get even better. If he does that, we’re talking Darrell Revis levels of CB play for the Jets, and that’s an important thing.

The Jets had the No. 4 scoring defense in the league last year, allowing just 316 points last season. The season before the team was the 32nd-ranked scoring defense (aka dead last) in the league.

Sauce Gardner was the major addition on the Jets defense between 2021 and 2022.

Sure, there were other players that came in, and the unit had another season to grow into and understand head coach Robert Saleh’s defense in his second year. Still, you can’t ignore the correlation between Gardner’s arrival and the NYJ D jumping up 28 spots.

So, having an elite lockdown corner helped give the Jets a top-10 defense for the first time since 2015 when … wait for it … they had Darrelle Revis, which was the last time the franchise boasted an elite lockdown corner. The last time the team had the No. 1 defense in the NFL was 2009, the beginning of Revis’ prime. That (and the season after with the No. 6 D) were also the last times the organization went as far as the AFC Championship Game.

If Gardner can take it to the next level this season and help propel the Jets to the No. 1 scoring defense in the NFL, look out. That would suggest that the Jets are going to the Super Bowl.

Why?

Well, now we are obligated to talk about Aaron Rodgers. The former Green Bay Packers quarterback is one of the best signal-callers in NFL history. He had 10 Pro Bowl appearances and four NFL MVP Awards. However, he only has one Super Bowl trophy.

And while there are surely several reasons that last point is true, one of the major issues in Green Bay was that the Packers front office rarely put a top defense around their franchise QB. In fact, the one time Rodgers did have a top-five defense (No. 2) on the other side of his locker room, that was the year he won the Super Bowl.

Aside from that, Rodgers has played with two top-10 defenses, seven ranked in the teens, and five ranked in the 20s.

Yes, Rodgers will turn 40 during the season, and he’s not the quarterback he used to be. Still, even at his advanced age, he’s the best QB the Jets have had since at least Mark Sanchez and probably Joe Namath, if we’re being honest.

As Gardner, Rodgers, and the rest of the squad prepares for the Jets’ 2023 NFL season, the team and its fans have to be optimistic for the upcoming slate. But if a Super Bowl is in the cards — especially in the brutally tough AFC this season — the Jets will have to have the best defense in the league.

And the only player on the team who can step up a level big enough to propel the defense to that level is Sauce Gardner.